#short break from tgcf

[seagreenlaurin]

🌻🩵🍃🌖

[kimbapchan]

After sleeping on it, I decided to just block the people on twitter who commented those things. It was better for my peace of mind and mental health. Idc if they think im punching down. I want to prioritize myself and my own mental health. I dont want them to see my work and further make me feel like I should be careful and walk on eggshells because of their overly sensitive political correctness.

I want to enjoy my creativity and share my designs/au’s with my REAL audience/readers who enjoy my work and support my creativity. Though I will probably still take a break from drawing mu qing to not further aggravate the situation, I will eventually put him back in the AU. I hope that’s ok with you guys.

I feel so much better knowing they no longer have access to my work. CURATE YOUR OWN ONLINE EXPERIENCE will forever be my internet mantra. Life is too short and I am an adult who just wants to enjoy my hobbies. I say, if I see ANY negativity while you interact with my work and it wouldnt be HELPFUL to me in any shape or form YOU WILL BE BLOCKED.

Anyways, thankyou so much everyone for your kind and encouraging words. Again, i will continue to do the TGCF AU alongside my new SVSSS au. I’m just going to take a break from the xianle trio. You will see them again someday, especially in xianle flashbacks. I do have interesting backstories for the three besties.

[c-h-pictures]

TGCF as Taskmaster Part 2

Part 1

Hua Cheng: Hello and welcome everybody to a tantalising Taskmaster treat. I have decreed that ghosts take a new year's break from humiliation and I have sent my minions out to scoop up five players from the heavenly court. Some would say that they are fools to have said "yes", that their credibility in their area of expertise will be destroyed by appearing on this show. I am one of the people who would say that. I agree with that statement.

-

Hua Cheng: Let's meet them! *Motions to Qi Rong* Not Lang Qianqiu.

He Xuan: So, Lang Qianqiu is sick. He's sent his representative. Who is... Obviously... Qi Rong.

-

Hua Cheng: Xie Lian, what's your beguiling and unwieldy, shiny thing?

Xie Lian: I brought in a jar.

Hua Cheng: A jar?

Xie Lian: A pickle jar.

-

He Xuan: *waiting Xie Lian to open the task*

Xie Lian: *distracted by an old cookbook he found*

-

Hua Cheng: I was ever so excited when I heard you were coming on this show.

Shi Qingxuan: Oh no, don't!

Hua Cheng: Expecting a bit of glamour.

Shi Qingxuan: Ahh.

Hua Cheng: Reality is a man throwing an egg over a cow.

Shi Qingxuan: Okay, but let's just unravel that!

-

Xie Lian, steps out, mildly embarrassed, wearing shorts: 5 meters?

He Xuan: Yes.

Xie Lian: Now, what I had in mind, was this on the grass. But bearing the word "daring" in the task.

Xie Lian: I'm going to crawl on concrete.

-

Shi Wudu: Ooh, shots.

Pei Ming: This looks like a great night.

Shi Qingxuan: I'm a bad drunk. I had to have a nap at my own wedding.

-

Hua Cheng: Why did you have to have a nap at your wedding?

Shi Qingxuan: Because I had a glass of wine. And I went in there, thinking this was alcohol, and I wanted to point that out to He Xuan because all I'd had was a wotsit.

Hua Cheng: Hold on, is this wotsit separate to the pot noodles you had?

He Xuan: Uh, yes.

-

Shi Qingxuan: WHAT'S THAT? WHAT'S THAT?

Shi Qingxuan: Oh, I see what you've done. Sweet into sour. *Dips his finger into the "sour" to taste, immediately gags*

Shi Qingxuan: Can you taste that?

He Xuan: Uh, sure?

Shi Qingxuan: You can? Drink that, what is it?

He Xuan: Apple juice.

Shi Qingxuan: Ahhh...

-

He Xuan: For the rest of the day, he shouted at me.

Shi Qingxuan: In a nice way!

He Xuan: No.

Shi Qingxuan: I couldn't find the vinegar and I'm still mad about it to this day.

He Xuan: The real question is if there's any vinegar. There was one shot of vinegar.

Shi Qingxuan: YOU EVIL EVIL MAN!

-

Hua Cheng, to Ling Wen: Watching you pass a pole under a cow and being so proud of it. All I could think was "they're going to take her title from her"

He Xuan: They are.

-

He Xuan: We've got to stick up for Feng Xin, because he only struck things 15 times.

Hua Cheng: We're going to stick up for Feng Xin? Because the first thing he did was try to ram the door with the pole.

He Xuan: Yes, but overall his pole was 232cm. Meanwhile, Shi Qingxuan started off with 420cm and hit things 41 times. So his pole was 10cm.

Shi Qingxuan, stands up and hides behind his chair: I can't come out!

[soapy-soartp]

Day 21 of @whumperless-whump-event (late entry)

Day:  21 - WHERE'S THE EXIT

Prompt: Lost / Stuck in the wilderness / "Surely someone will notice we're gone."

Fandom: TGCF

Characters: Yin Yu, Quan Yizhen, and unamed character

He turned around and all he saw were trees, no sign of the group that he was on a night hunt with. That’s fine, he’s been out in the woods alone before, lost, but he’s made it out fine. But this time is different, when he turns a corner he finds a person, looking around his shixiong’s age, wearing a different sect's obes.

The other disciple was hunched over under a tree. By the sounds of it, they were sniffling. Yizhen moved closer, noticing the other had injured their leg.

“Why are you crying?”

“Ah!-“ the stranger exclaimed.

Quan Yizhen just stared as the other (annoyingly) began a rapid fire of questions, “W-who are you? Oh wait, you're part of that sect here?! Do- do you know how to get put here? Did you come to save me! How do we get out of here? Do you-“

“No. I'm lost too, I’m going to find my Shixiong though,” he cut them off, not bothering to answer the other questions.

“How?!” they suddenly yelled, panic slipping through.

“Just walking around,” he explained simply.

“What?! You don't even have a plan?! Then- then we’re gonna die here!”

“No. I'm not dying here.”

“How the hell are you so confident in that?!”

Yizhen shrugs then turns to walk away.

“Wait!- where are you going?!” the other disciple asked, trying to move forward but their injury prevented them from doing so.

Yizhen pauses, his responses getting more short and clipped, “Told you. I'm going to find Shixiong.”

“Wait! don't leave me here please!”

“Get up then?”

“I can’t! My leg- it's injured!”

“Oh,” he states blandly, ready to turn around and leave when the other yelled for him.

“Take me with you!” 

The unnamed disciple reaches out and Yizhen, starting to lose his patience, just picks up the other, gets them situated on his back, and begins walking.

“Augh! Ow the hell?!! You just-“

Quan Yizhen was glared at but he easily ignored it, instead focusing on walking towards where he thinks his group could've gone.

“Need to find Shixiong, getting dark.” 

The other disciple kept talking and talking and talking, only stopping when Quan Yizhen threatened to fight him(despite his Shixiong saying he should stop doing that). Eventually, after hours of walking in silence Quan Yizhen spots a group of people wearing familiar looking robes.

“Shixiong!” Yizhen greeted happily, breaking into a run, completely forgetting about the person on his back. Naturally he trips under the forgotten weight, thankfully Yin Yu had fast enough reflexes to slow their fall.

“Yizhen!” Shixiong exclaims after helping steady the two, “Are you right?”

Yizhen nods excitedly, “Missed Shixiong!”

The older man flushes at that but ignores Yizhen in favor of the other disciples still on his back. They have a short conversation that Yizhe  hadn’t bothered listening to, he’s too busy staring at his Shixiong after all! But when his Shixiong gets up he helps the injured disciples up too and motions for Yizhen to follow so he does.

[the-untamed-mind-pdf]

Queer rep in Indian media

I want to talk about queer representation here. I will start with my introduction to queer media. My first introduction to queer people in India would be the newspaper coverages of Pride marches in big cities. When section 377 was decriminalised in 2018, I had never given thoughts to my sexuality. Being an avid book reader, sometimes books with queer characters would accidently reach my hand. I say accidently because my primary source of books before Covid was my school library. Not a great place to find queer books. I had never liked Bollywood movies because of their blatant sexism, and my love for Bollywood songs  was fading. So when I found myself questioning my sexuality, I had to specifically look up queer media on youtube and chrome. That was in 2020.

In the summer of 2023, I discovered the gold mine/hell-hole of BL webtoons. I don’t remember my first BL webtoon. Was it Hearstopper? Its creator Alice Oseman will say it’s not BL (more on that later). What I do remember is binging on BL webtoons day and night for many days, until I started feeling guilty of consuming mostly BL in the name of queer stories, and that too mostly the ones written by women. So I actively searched for GL webtoons, and found them, but sadly not as many as BLs. And to top it, they storyline in many of them weren’t great either. GLs were lacking a lot in both quantity and quality as compared to BLs. But I didn’t break my resolve and started watching anime for the first time. I watched Bloom Into You, a GL, and Yuri on Ice, a BL. Then I started watching Heaven Official’s Blessing (TGCF), and god knows I still haven’t recovered from it. I read the whole book series in 4 days, and wanted to read more MXTX novels but put off reading them because I knew I would be gone for if her other works were half as interesting as TGCF. A year later I finally gave in and read Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (MDZS). And then I started watching The Untamed. The boon and bane of my existence right now.

My exams were also going on, which meant added stress. But there were nights I cried myself to sleep after watching youtube shorts of The Untamed. There were so many questions I asked myself while watching those 10-15 second videos. How come the Chinese have censorship, but they get to make and see such a great series with queer characters and the actors are also famous ones? In case anybody mistakes it for jealousy, I want to clarify that what I felt was anger and frustration. Why don’t we have such a series in India? Why don’t we have mainstream actors playing queer characters? Why don’t we have a good queer series or movie? So much heterosexual and sexist garbage gets passed by the Indian film censorship board but no one dares to make what is actually needed. I know there are some movies produced in recent times which don’t depict queer people as a joke, but why are there only a handful of them?

In India we have so many mythological tales relating to queerness, we have queer Gods and Goddesses, we have trans Deities, we have ancient temples dedicated to love depicting non heterosexual relationships, we have queer characters in our great epics Mahabharata and Ramayana. But very few poeople are ready to talk about it.

I hope this changes one day, and one day soon.

I had wanted to talk about many other things but they will have to wait for another day I guess.

P.S. I feel this piece was over a lot of places. I will learn to structure it better if there is a next time.

[dragonji]

genuinely the past few months ive blazed through so many novels/comics it's kind of ridiculous that I still crave more. and yet I Do</3 Like to list them all out is. yeah:

◇Purely by Accident- just finished in 2 days. cute and had some neat moments but fell flat w the side characters by the end imo

◇Fabulous Beasts comic+donghua- started and caught up with both in <a week. desperately awaiting more[strained smile]

◇Sending the Divine- caught up with all free ongoing translations (have been following for months). awaiting more and reserving judgement for when I can read the full thing in one go

◇The Governor's Illness- finished in 5 days. Enjoyed it even tho it exasperated me in places, couple of really memorable moments too

◇Have You Seen My Brother comic- caught up with 20+ chs in a day after finding the new host site for the ongoing transl (previous app host got nuked in feb-ish). eagerly awaiting more

◇Daughter of a Thousand Faces comic- read in 1 day. honestly a bit obsessed but lowkey bc wont be getting more for a While

◇Dvawtk- reread for the 4th time over a week and a half. Love of my life in novel form I'd blow up a building for more

◇Rotmhs- fully caught up with eng comic. read 350+ novel chs in 2 weeks before burning out on it and taking a still-in-effect break. Need to get back into it but enjoying just chilling on it for now

◇Qjj- full reread of unoffical fan transl over 2 weeks. gutwrenching in places fairly solid overall but minor complications w some side relationships

◇I took the Wrong Script of Qing Leng Xianjun- read in 3 days . cute and silly if a bit grating in places

◇I am the White Moonlight of the Paranoid Immortal- unintentional reread (forgot I had read it last year lol) in 4 days. Short and fun, loses steam by the end but not bad

◇After Marrying the Lord of the Underworld- read in 6 days? honestly do not remember much. had more horror elements than I tend to go for I think

◇After Being Forced to Marry the Evil Star General- read in a week? only slightly more memorable than prev but I do think I liked it more and might give it another read soon to refresh

◇After Being Betrayed, the Immortal Master Ran Away with the Demon Venerable- read in 4 days. hints of dog's blood orig plot romance were appropriately grating and from what I recall had a satisfying end and some nice chemistry between the main couple, generally fond of it I think

◇The Last Dragon in the Cultivation World- read in 5ish days? did not like it</3 mc was too childish for my taste and i didnt enjoy most of plot, overall pretty shallow

All of ^that on top of keeping up with daily webtoon releases and a very slow ongoing reread of the official tgcf novels for annotation purposes (currently on book 5) not to mention re-/new watches of dramas animations game streams etc

[hellishvxbes]

⸺ 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 : 𝐃𝐈𝐀 !

what's your phone wallpaper: its of a cute kitty in a bathtub surrounded by pretty pink flowers :3

last song you listened to: ay mami by young miko

currently reading: nothing currently but I have been thinking of re-reading TGCF

last movie: Jawbreaker (1999)

what are you wearing right now?: my vox tshirt and shorts cuz its hot bbyy

how tall are you?: 5'2

piercings / tattoos?: just my earssss but someday a tattoo !!

glasses / contacts: glasses that i never wear

last thing you ate?: pizza rolls because I am an adult

favorite color: pink !!

current obsession: hazbin hotel, the amazing digitial circus, royal match game on my phone ~

do you have a crush right now?: on literally the cutest person to ever exist

favorite fictional character: xerxes break from pandora hearts !!! he is my bby!! who i am at my core ~

last place you travelled: i believe it was Maryland for my besties wedding <3

tagged by . @veneror THANK U

tagging . I THINK EVERYONES BEEN TAGGED?? IF U HAVENT DO ITTT.

[daemonwritesstuff]

Short (No, LONG) introduction of your favorite writer (Me, Jaxrel) behind the screen! ╰(*´︶`*)╯

My name(s): I’m usually called Jaxrel or Jax, but I also love being called by Himawari, Rin, Eden or Luke too! Whatever nickname is easy for you to call me by then go wild!

Identity: I use he/him pronouns, but I’m also cool with people using they/them pronouns on me as well, but I do like using more masculine pronouns for my comfort :,)

I have been professionally diagnosed with Autism, ADHD, BPD, Schizophrenia and OCD, I am a little bit more severe with my Autism (but not so high, ifykwim) so I may not understand a lot of social cues or tones in words or voices and etc, so just be mindful of this please and be kind to me and also everyone :)

I am a trans man, im pansexual, polyamorous, aromatic & asexual, I have a preference towards men more than woman (:

I’m Polish, Middle Eastern (Iraqi), & Filipino with some Scottish, I currently live in Baghdad, Iraq, I also live in America too.

Likes: Anthropology, zoology, pathology, theology, astronomy, writing, history/science, soccer, basketball, volleyball, art(painting, pottery, digital art, sketching, etc), cats, sharks, anime/manga, vocaloid/UTAU, k/j-pop, vkei, plushies, figurines, stuffed animals, puppetry, tabletop RPGS, gaming, rhythm games, documentaries, youtube, twitch, skateboarding, sweets, asian cuisine, iced coffee, boba tea, dancing, cleaning, musicals, collecting many things, rain, horror, and so much more!

Dislikes: hot weather, bitter tastes or smells, feeling restricted, pessimism.

Favorite Video Games: I do have a lot I play but here are the ones I really enjoy playing… Persona5(more), Danganronpa, OMORI, Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail, Honaki Impact 3rd, Zenless Zero Zone, NieR: Automata, Hollow Knight, Final Fantasy 7, TWST, Obey Me!, Tears Of Themis, Mystic Messenger, Sally Face and more!

Favorite Animes: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Bungo Stray Dogs, Vanitas no Carte, Jujustu Kaisen, Demon Slayer, Blue Lock, Black Butler, Death Note, Chainsaw Man, Tokyo Revengers, TBHK, Toradora, Oshi No Ko, A Silent Voice, Doukyuusei, JJBA, Sk8 The Infinity, Food Wars, Assassination Classroom, Hunter X Hunter, Devilman Crybaby, Banana Fish, Serial Experiments Lain, Monster, Soul Eater, Magical Girl Madoka, Akudama Drive and more

Favorite Movies/Shows/Cartoons: Mean Girls, The Great Gatsby, Breaking Bad, Any Marvel Movies, AlRawabi School For Girls, Girl From Nowhere, Alice In Borderland, Stranger Things, Heartstopper, Breaking Bad, Total Drama Llama, South Park, Adventure Time, Gravity Falls & More

Other Media: Heavens Offical Blessing, Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss, Cherry Crush, Creepypasta, The Mandela Catalog, SCP Foundation, Flicker (Roblox), Sanatorium (Roblox), The Walten Files, The Evillous Chronicles, Homestuck, Eddsworld, Nijisanji EN & more

Top Kins: hiyori tomoe (enstars), yoosung kim (mystic messenger), jumin han (mystic messenger), hanako (tbhk), felix kranken (twf), albedo (genshin impact), shoya ishida (a silent voice), tom (eddsworld), eridan (homestuck), karkat (homestuck), shu itsuki (enstars),miyamura izumi (horimiya), micheal afton (FNAF), lolbit (FNAF), mangle (FNAF), natsume sakasaki (enstars), sora harukawa (enstars), V (mystic messenger), hagumi kitazawa (bandori), matsubara kanon (bandori), shinji ikari (neon genesis evangelion), geto suguru (jujustu kaisen), minami kotobuki (oshi no ko), lain iwakura (serial experiments lain), hajime hinata (danganronpa), hua cheng (TGCF), ame-chan (needy streamer overdose), k-angel (needy streamer overdose) and more....!

Favorite Characters: Toji Fushiguro (Jujustu Kaisen), Gojo Satoru (Jujustu Kaisen), Mondo Owada (Danganronpa 1), Leon Kuwata (Danganronpa 1), Blair (Soul Eater), Goro Akechi (Persona5), Jumin Han (Mystic Messenger), Malleus Draconia (Twisted Wonderland), Mushitaro Oguri (Bungo Stray Dogs), Chuuya Nakahara (Bungo Stray Dogs), Qi Rong (Heavens Offical Blessing, SORRY), Belphegor (Obey Me), Aponia (Honkai Impact 3rd), Mitsuri Kanoji (Demon Slayer), Enmu (Demon Slayer), Wriothesley (Genshin Impact), Neuvillette (Genshin Impact), Raiden Shogun/Ei (Genshin Impact), Takanobu Aone (Haikyuu), Willam Afton (Five Nights at Freddy’s), and more

Favorite Artists: ATEEZ, Stray Kids, LOONA, TXT, SHINee, Orange Caramel, Red Velvet, NewJeans, BIGBANG, (G)-IDLE, TWICE, Enhypen, LE SSERAFIM, Itzy, Wonder Girls, Perfume, Gackt, ATARASHII GAKKO, Yoasobi, BABYMETAL, Fuji Kaze, King Gnu, Arashi, Ado, Eve, Miki Matsubara, Tophamhat-kyo, Gulu gulu, Malice Mizer, DADAROMA, The GazettE, Kaneto-Juusei, Mejibray, Madmans Esprit, BUCK-TICK, X Japan, Korn, System Of A Down, Oingo Bingo, Puzzle, Strawberry Guy, Tyler The Creator, Lemon Demon, The Mountain Goats, Mitski, Mac Demarco, The Cure, The Smiths, The Garden, AJJ, TV Girl, Bôa, Current Joys, Eyedress, Car Seat Headrest, My Bloody Valentine, Alex G, Marina, Weezer, Radiohead, Cage The Elephant, Tame Impala, Playboi Carti, Deftones and more

I’ll update this whenever I can! Hopefully you guys enjoy getting to know more about me (:

[iantimony]

exhausted tuesdaypost

short one this week! i'm at baby's first big academic conference and boy howdy i have no idea what the fuck i'm doing! technically posting this a little early by the time zone i'm in (pst) but in my normal time zone (est) it is already tuesday so fuck it amirite

listening: a little more partizan but not much (almost done with episode 19). VERY bold of me to think i could finish partizan before 2024, but also the first two weeks of december were a total wash for me because of conference prep. will very likely blaze through a ton of it when i get back to my apartment at the end of this week.

reading: read a little more of 'the house on vesper sands'. reread some tgcf chapters because they're familiar and soothing.

cait corrain goodreads controversy: the world of twitter/tiktok writers is such a foreign concept to me. the drama even more so. i was fascinated by this. reminds me of the livejournal drama of yore.

diagrammatic writing by johanna drucker: picked this up at a bookshop in san fran. might give it to my brother as a holiday gift? it's very cool and meta and caught my attention, as well as being bite-sized.

drinking, power wheelchairs and dui: got in a conversation with my roommate about how you can get a dui on a horse in arizona (which i think is a little strange because a horse, while under your control, generally wouldn't just go off a cliff or into traffic even if you try to guide it that way?? idk shit about horses though) which morphed into "wait. you can get a dui on a horse. and a bike. what about wheelchairs." i definitely agree with the "wheelchair and its driver together fall under the class of “pedestrian” when using sidewalks and crosswalks" because like. yeah. it's no more a vehicle than my legs are y'know? or something. there's definitely deeper disability theory here that i am ignorant to but i'm remembering stuff from the embodiment-themed art history class that i took my senior year and how technologies can serve as extensions as the self rather than separate entities.

playing: still pokego. yeehaw

watching: episode 6 of tgcf donghua! i'm a little confused about the release schedule but i am obsessed. they're in love your honor

misc: found out the nyt dialect quiz is behind a paywall now when i told my friend about it and she tried to take it >:( met a cool older gentleman on the cable car, he's a retired nat geo photographer originally from paris. just a really cool dude. wish i got his name so i could look up his work.

BONE TIRED at this conference despite it literally being day one. i am so exhausted. partly jetlag partly New Experience partly anticipation for poster session on wednesday partly meeting collaborators and wanting to make a good impression etc etc. i definitely need to plan in more breaks. last week was easily one of The worse weeks of my life so far, combo PMSing plus breakdown over realizing i had to completely re-run a simulation (or two etc) and redo all my plots for my poster. just agonizing cramming of so much stuff. completely draining, basically burned myself out before even leaving for the conference, but it's Fine i'll be Fine i just gotta get through my presentation on wednesday without completely losing the thread.

[unforth]

Alright instead of rageposting about white people perpetuating racism problems in cnovel/cdrama fandoms I've channeled my feels into cleaning up some shit I've been doing a bad job at maintaining and feeling horribly guilty about for months or even years. This is probably a healthier use of my current "fuck it." So, for reference, I've:

deleted the kink meme part of the DMBJ kink meme on AO3. This means that the prompts and sign ups and claims are now gone (I'm sorry I didn't give people time to save their prompts, but the reason I didn't do this months ago was that it had many steps and I was being useless about DOING those steps and as I said in the intro paragraph, I'm now at "fuck it" and like. if I can't do it "the right way" I'm today just breaking and doing it "the wrong way" and here we are). The collection and the ten stories in it still exists and anonymity and such are still maintained for people who wanted it, but new prompts and new fills cannot be submitted.

ditto the above for the kink meme part of the SPN kink meme on AO3. The prompts and sign ups and claims are now gone. I also removed myself administrating the Tumblr, though the other two people involved (fpwoper and envydean) do still have access. I realized belatedly that I really should have offered to just leave and let them have it but, again, today is apparently "fuck it" day which means I'm not thinking through the ramifications of my actions which has resulted in some bad fandom citizenry behavior on my part, and again, I truly do apologize. (I've offered to help them reconstruct the challenge part if either of them wants to run it; fpwoper has already said no, I'll see what envydean says and I'll apologize profusely even more and do what I can do fix things if envydean DOES want to take over and make it active again). The collection and the stories written for it still exist; that's about 40 works. Thanks to everyone who participated.

I left @saawek's Star of Solitude event, which I helped run a year and a half ago. Saawek hasn't really been active on Tumblr, but hun if you see this it's nothing at all about you or TGCF I'm just pulling back from things that even seeing them in my blog list has been causing me stress on the daily.

I formally announced that I'll be consolidating @zhenhunartreblogs and @dmbjartreblogs in @cnovelartreblogs, and I've posted to that effect in all three blogs. If you want Zhenhun/Guardian and DMBJ art content from my sideblogs, unfollow the old blogs and follow at cnovelartreblogs, and just black list fandoms you're not interested in - that's the whole reason I tag everything.

I deleted another side blog I haven't been using.

I'm considering deleting @memesforwriters, which I only update maybe once a month, and honestly just typing all this up has I think tipped me over into "fuck it" and I'm going to delete that too. I expect I'll instead reblog relevant memes to the @duckprintspress account, since I have to maintain that regardless.

My last remaining completely inactive Tumblr sideblog is where I'd posted on translated chapter the 2ha manhua. I really would like to be doing more work like that, though hell if I know when I'll have time; I renamed that blog to @unforthfantranslations, and I have vague hopes to translate more of 2ha and to tackle Lie Huo Jiao Chou (which I've never read any version of and would like to). But tbh I probably won't manage any progress on any of that until the fall.

Nothing like a pile of grief to make me say "I'm done feeling guilty about this stuff, like is too short, fuck it I'm gonna make these changes I've been waffling about for ages."

P. S. I opened another window to check how exactly I'd renamed the translation blog and while I had it opened I decided on a compromise with memesforwriters, which is that I'm exporting it, and THEN I'll delete it. And I DMed the Destiel Harlequin mods that I'm done and think we should shut it down. And I spotted a couple Discord servers I'm going to leave.

So yeah. that's the mood today in a (rather large and overly wordy) nutshell.

Apparently when I said yesterday that I'd be quiet, I failed to take into account how I ACTUALLY process grief. In my defense, this is only the...fourth?...time someone I really care about has died in my entire life. (counts of...Arthur, Gil, my grandfather, yeah that's three...of course other people I've cared about have died but no one who I loved and who I felt "I wish I had more time with this person." Like...I wish I'd had more time with Belle but I didn't love her...yeah I'm just babbling now I'm sorry I'm like this today.)

ETA: okay I just left like 6 Discord servers I haven't been using, too. There's only one I'm still like "maybe I shouldn't..." but I know a lot of people in that server and if I really want back in I can ask for invite.

[luffythinker]

was looking over the teamup missions and the school briefs cause im starved for Monoma content and i discovered the Kirishima/Monoma tag on here it's #kirimono and while looking through it i have discovered that Kirimono is apparently like KiriBaku in a way and im honestly so down. There were several post that had me by the neck for them and not to forget to mention i was listening to JORDY - Is It Love? and Blonde at the time - Maisie Peters

They are so like break up every 5 minutes for eachother i don't know how to describe it, aggressive make out because they grind eachothers gears in the worse way yet can't keep their hands off eachother long enough to want to be anywhere else.

Someone said "Canonically Kirishima can’t stand Monoma but when we think about it Monoma is basically class b’s Bakugou, who if you remember Kiri actually had to warm up to at first then chose to be his friend. The only thing stopping them from getting along is literally just Monoma’s complex about class a and if they got to know each other I think they’d act get along in that petty boyfriends sorta way."

post by @ mhathotfic

the best part of it was

"They’d pick on each other and flirt via insults but they know the other doesn’t actually mean it in hurtful way."

and

"In conclusion they’d be the couple who can’t stand each other, but they’re disgustingly in love so they make it work."

it's like a complex semi toxic relationship that only they understand whats going on. Like Kirishima is such a sweet heart but when it comes to Monoma he's the devil from the bible hope you get that snapcube joke

They love to antagonize eachother but it's mostly Monoma but i can see them doing this for the longest until Monoma is actually the first to catch feelings for him, he's all i want something from this, like i don't wanna be mean and hateful to this meat head the entire time i actually genuinely have feelings for this beefcake and i wonder what a softer version of us looks and feels like so the antagonizing takes a weird turn and he's not feeling it like he used to one day

THIS IS SO ENEMIES TO LOVERS

Kirishima's confused Monoma is weirdly upset and it's like actually people in a relationship they don't understand. Monoma doesn't have it in him to actually bring up whats wrong with him cause he's kinda like Bakugo in the way that he can't admit his feelings at least to someone in class A of all people so he's just gonna ignore him or try and get him to figure it out himself

Kirishima is not smart enough for this but he uses his one braincell to hunt that petty boy down and demand whats wrong? Did he go too far? did he actually hurt Monoma? What?

Monoma would go on to explain to him whats going on and that he's actually got feelings for him and call him an idiot in a sophisticated manner.

This ship is just news to me man like i don't know whats going on i just got here

At this rate, I will have to rewatch bnha just to fully get every rare pair yall send me

So I didn't remember much of their interactions (I've watched season 1 and 2 like 4 years ago okay!! my memory is not that good), but I watched this short compilation and OKAY I GET THE VISION NOW so let's get into the post itself

I feel like I need to just talk about the songs they mentioned cause i gave it a listen and OMGJKDFKJDF it's so them coded /baby if you thought I was trouble then you're gonna hate what's coming next/ like cmon??

They are that couple that everybody talks about during lunch, they make their fights everybody's business by screaming at each other, but also no one can dare to say anything about them cause they will fight YOU

don't know if anyone here is into tgcf but this ship gives me fengqing in another font

"It's like a complex semi-toxic relationship that only they understand what's going on." you defined it perfectly here, anon!! [and your joke had me giggling for 5 minutes]

I feel like they would have the slowest slow burn ever when it comes to feelings, like sexual tension would be there as in every enemies to lovers, but to any of them to realize and ADMIT their feelings???? yeah… it's giving all years of high school until they confess on the last day during prom [except everybody else thought they were dating already]

I am very intrigued by this ship, pls come back so I can think about them some more, cause, for now, I'm still getting used to it but I'm gonna come up with some ideas!!

p.s.: also I'm very sorry for taking long to reply, weekend was crazy and I had no access to my computer :')

[sadbreadcrumb]

hohoho, tagged by @joziokowalski, thankie

last song: I Wanna Be Your Slave by Måneskin. i don't listen to music much these days, and when i do, it's the same ~10 last songs from my playlist, which include tgcf soundtrack, two Måneskin songs and two songs by Dead Blonde with russian '90s vibes?? папин пистолет в кармане, шуба, плащ и сапоги — вот и всё моё наследство, я принцесса из тайги 😎😎😎

current book stack:

Don't Shoot The Dog by Karen Pryor (i think so, at least, bc the title of the russian translation says 'don't growl at the dog' lol). started reading it several days ago and haven't gone further than like a dozen pages or so. i'm bad with books that aren't tgcf or tgcf fanfiction right now. anyway, it's about dog training and operant learning in general

All Creatures Great And Small by James Herriot. it's a collection of short stories. it's going really slowly. idk why, it has animals and veterinary, i'm like really interested in those...

Служебная собака (i. e. 'service dog') by Leonid Krushinsky. it's a soviet dog training manual. i haven't touched it in several months tho. this one and the Herriot's book just sit in a corner of our workplace in case i happen to want to read something during my break...

i also have several books i'd started reading on my phone, but i guess it's safe to say i'm not likely to finish them. those include A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (i didn't like what i'd read), Good Omens and russian translation of The Silmarillion. but yeah. not going to happen anytime soon...

by the way, i'm going to get my printed copy of the 4th tgcf book so i'll probably be rereading it for the third time ✌️

last movie: hmmmm @joziokowalski showed me The Hound of the Baskervilles on the new year eve

last show: probably that 4th tgcf rewatch with my cat lol. before that... the 3rd tgcf rewatch with @joziokowalski... before that maybe Jeeves and Wooster with ... ... ... you guessed it, @joziokowalski ; ) at this point she can probably keep better track on the series i've watched lol

current obsession: Heaven Official's Blessing aka tgcf, if you haven't guessed already. it's been uhhh nine months or more?.. gonna move to mdzs at some point but not sure when lol

i'm tagging @melonbitter, @karamazovdmitri and @fantasmagoriam, have a go at this ask if you'd like ^_^

[coffeeshopdrawings]

a really long and pointless ramble on one of the most boring books i've ever read, and how a danmei (TGCF) is deeper than it: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

God. I fucking hate this book. For context, I was recently assigned this book in my English class. I was assuming it would share a lot of themes with To Kill a Mockingbird but with a different perspective. And let me tell you, I appreciate that book WAY more after this

Plot

True Diary is about a Native American teenager who lives on a reservation and struggles with poverty. After having a talk with his teacher after throwing a book at him (I'll touch on that later), he decides to move to a school in a farm town mostly populated by white kids.

This Book is Extremely Oversexualized for NO Reason

There are multiple points throughout the novel that just- really shouldn't be there. Here are some quotes:

"Naked women + right hand = happy happy joy joy. Yep, that's right, I admit that I masturbate. I'm proud of it. I'm good at it. I'm ambidextrous. If there was a Professional Masterbators League, I'd get drafted number one and make millions of dollars. And maybe you're thinking, "Well, you really shouldn't be talking about masturbation in public." Well, tough, I'm going to talk about it because EVERYBODY does it and EVERYBODY likes it."

"Have you ever watched a beautiful woman play volleyball? Yesterday, during a game, Penelope was serving and I watched her like she was a work of art. She was wearing a white shirt and white shorts, and I could see the outlines of her white bra and white panties. Her skin was pale white. Milky white. Cloud white. She she was all white on white on white, like the most perfect kind of vanilla dessert cake you've ever seen. I wanted to be her chocolate topping."

"The score was like 12-0. But I didn't care. I just wanted to watch the sweaty Penelope sweat her perfect swear on that perfectly sweaty day."

Gross right? There are more scenes like this, but I don't have the quotes on hand. At one point a kid said he got a "metaphorical boner" from reading, and the main character almost kissed a book once (more on that later!!)

The Unnecessary Derogatory Language

In the prologue, the r-word is prominently used, and the word Indian is used to replace Native American to describe the main character (from the main character's perspective). That is excusable, as the author based the main character off himself. He is a Native American and has excess spinal fluid. However, there are two examples of this book using genuine slurs. Of course, the main character hadn't said it, but my point still stands. The thing is? Take these out and NOTHING changes. Removing this language in a book like To Kill a Mockingbird actually has an excuse for this language since, ya know, it was made in the 1920s. This book? No reason. Just kinda throws in the f-slur and the n-word in there once.

The Plot is BORING

When it says "diary" IT MEANS A DAIRY. Take Diary of a Whimpy kid and strip it of the plot, add some horniness, and there. That's the book. The very inciting incident doesn't even make sense. Basically, our MC is about to make out with his textbook, until he realizes it has his mom's name on it. He's mad that the textbook is old. That's it. So he throws it at his teacher! This breaks his teacher's nose, but you know what happens? The teacher says that the kid got mad cuz. . . poverty??? It read like our MC was just mad they had an old book. But apparently, that means that they have a fighting spirit or something. SO THAT'S HOW HE ENDS UP GOING TO THE OTHER SCHOOL. His parents don't disagree, there's no argument, nothing. The only thing that comes from it is that his best friend (who is low-key a dick) is mad that he's leaving the reservation school for an all-white person school.

Okay. The title. How does Tian Guan Ci Fu act better as a book than this?

You see, here's the thing. In True Diary, there is ZERO takeaway. There really is nothing to learn from it. There's no lesson to learn, no challenge to overcome, nothing to think about. It's DEVOID OF LIFE! Yet, look at TGCF. so many people have taken away meaningful messaging from it. I've personally taken a liking to Hua Cheng, and especially the idea that he doesn't care about all the extravagant things he owns, but instead just his beloved. I relate to that a lot, and it speaks to me. And then look at True Diary? What does this serve? What can I learn? What can I think about?

okay that's it bye bye this was really long and dumb :)

[rivthewriter]

For the WIP ask game, I'm really intrigued by "The land of the tender incident" (sounds like TGFC and HuaLian?? Maybe smut?!) and "The Untold Story".

Please enlighten me as to what these are about 😍🙏🏼😊

Hi hi! I'm so glad you chose these two! And thank you for asking! I completely forgot The Land Of The Tender Incident was listed in there tbh, and no worries of getting the name mixed up (I saw your other ask <3) I do that too, especially with the titles of my own works. it is indeed tgcf but, instead of hualian, its Mu Qing and Feng Xin, because im a little goober who loves the 'angsty cat type guy falls for the dog type guy he keeps hissing at' tropes, its not written too far, in all honesty idk if it'll ever even see the light of day (and it def wont remain that title. its just titled that so i remember what fandom its from lmao) But its around post tgcf, where the two of them have to investigate claims of some form of unrest just within the boundaries of both of their domains, They're arguing the *whole time* and end up not paying attention to whats going on around them (cuz they're too busy butting heads), and MQ ends up accidentally disturbing the beginning blooms of the land of tender, and it sends this, pollen/scent into the air (as it does) and the rest goes on from there >:3 The event leads MQ to accidentally letting it slip that just maybe he liked FX for quite a long time but always had a hard time accepting it or showing it because their rivalry was.. *fun* for him. They both knew how to get under eachother's skin after all.. and hey, even though they fight all the time they did seem to get along besides it.. for the most part.. I'm unsure if i want the smut to be during that incident or shortly after because i want to milk the angst and frustration aspect of it >:3 If i had to give a sneak peek.. well I leave you with this short section (which one day may be slightly adjusted since i wrote this at like. 4 am):

"...His Highness dealt with this before and made it through it without doing anything too.. strange.. you can make it through this too" Feng Xin replied, glancing at the other martial god, the light was starting to go down, casting shadows into the run-down building, they were lucky to have found it... despite the circumstances.

"He stabbed himself in the stomach with a sword to keep himself from breaking his cultivation. I'm not about to do that. My cultivation matters but for fucks sake I'm not that insa-" Mu Qing got cut off by a sharp shudder running through him "Insane." he finished, gritting his teeth.

And onto A Tale Untold! <3 A Tale Untold is a wip for Fragile Dreams, which is an older wii game that not many people know about. It takes place after the story of the game, years down the road, when Seto, the protagonist, stumbles upon a man suspended in a preservation tank, he then manages to release the man, and discovered that this stranger has no memory of how he got in there, why, or even what his name was. So, he dubbed the stranger 'Starling' and promised to help him recover his past. Chapter one is up on my ao3 (thankfully i beat the writers block for that chapter) and chapter two is in the works, its a sorta fix-it future fic where i decided "yknow what. this character didnt need to die in canon. im bringing him back and no one can stop me" I will say, this one is one of my favorites to just, sit down and brainstorm for. though if you ask my friends on discord you will find that I've had like, thorough discussions about "is this ethical? what about this? does the science behind this make any sense?" as if this isn't just a silly goofy fanfic im writing for the hell of it lmao

And i will give you a small sneak peek at chapter two! (and of course, it is subject to change, im constantly rewriting my stuff) :

Starling’s behavior stressed Seto out beyond measure, he was constantly worried Starling would fall and injure himself, or come face to face with some rabid, stray animal. But stress wasn’t the only feeling that had been bubbling in Seto. An odd sense of familiarity was building, each time he would chance a glance at Starling he would see a familiar flash of a multi-color coat, a yellow scarf.. It would make Seto pause for a moment, chest tightening. He didn’t really know why Starling reminded him of the friend he had forgotten.. The one who gave him the ring he couldn't bear to part with for even a second. Perhaps it was their happy-go-lucky natures that seemed similar.. Or their thrill-seeking behavior..  Starling and Crow were just.. *so* similar.

[yiifu]

so it's 11.50pm on a Saturday night now and I've just properly finished reading the entirety of mdzs (in english) not including the extras. it feels so surreal and strange, because I'd started the English translations in Jan this year (I read exiled rebel's version) while sometimes reading pdfs of the 7seas one at the same time just to see the differences in translation. I remember blazing through the equivalent of 7seas book 1-3 from Jan to early March. From mid-March to now I took a bit of a break from mdzs to read other things like 2ha (which I'm still reading now), the 2ha manhua and the tgcf manhua. I managed to finish 7seas mdzs vol 4 in mid March too (binge reading sessions before bed, mostly) and then I stopped cos 7seas hadn't released vol 5 yet and I thought I'd just wait. then after a week I decided I couldn't wait that long so I went back to EXR to read what was left of the story until the end (before the extras). Still I took my time with it so the guanyin temple arc took me a few weeks to get through.

but tonight I decided to return to mdzs to finish the guanyin temple arc and that short little bit after that (everyday means everyday, meeting luo qingyang and mianmian, riding off into the sunset while wangxian plays in the distance) and now I'm at the end, also after reading the author's notes. so much effort went into it really and that makes me appreciate the story even more (thank you mxtx for that wonderful mind of yours and for the characters and story you've created!!) I'll probably save the extras to read when I get the digital version of 7seas vol 5 just to participate in the finale mood yknow.. I know 7seas isn't done with mdzs yet there's still the entire manhua to be released which is a whole diff beast but for now the completion of the full English novel merits some special mention at least

and it's like, yeah I'll def grow a little distant from mdzs for a bit while I tour other stories and fandoms and media but everytime I come back to it, to these familiar characters, it feels like coming home. I've consumed this story in so many forms (manhua, donghua, novel, now just left with the audio drama and the untamed) and I've drawn a bunch of fanart of them, even read longfics starring these characters, after a while you just feel like you know them as old friends. and getting to the end of the story and closing the book on these guys, even though it's only temporarily, just feels all sorts of weirdly happy and sad to me now. this story has accompanied me through a holiday trip in dec 2022, through lunch at work, weekends spent reading and watching it, work breaks spent reading it and looking at the wiki and TV tropes page for character info...it's just such a concrete part of my daily memories it really helped me get through this tedious thing called working life

I'm not even saying this to anyone in particular - maybe I'm saying it to the characters and the story - but thank you so much for existing! yall introduced me to the wonderful and heartbreaking world of historical danmei where heroes, magic, gods, ghosts, and everything in between live out fantastical tales of wonder and bravery and resilience and love and so mdzs will always have a special place in my heart for being that first piece of fiction that brought me into these worlds ❤️

[streetlights-was-taken]

omg venlumi week is happening in april... maybe I'll participate again. but I have to rein myself in and write SHORT oneshots and don't get too ambitious, otherwise I'll never make it to the ship week.

using this post to sketch out quick ideas to write for the week. I'm not aiming to write a fic for each day, but I'll aim for at least two to three oneshots. I think that's doable for me if I start early enough.

day 2: corruption AU — abyss venlumi. not strictly a corruption AU, but I have an idea tangential to it inspired by how venti took on the form of the nameless bard. so imagine: sometimes, when venti looks at his reflection, he sees her. there might be some fucked up dynamics with traveler aether here (where, out of loneliness, he kinda encourages this behavior in venti because they both miss her), but it's mostly a pining venlumi fic.

day 4: modern AU / arranged marriage / "I love you more than you'll ever know" — tbh if I have the energy, I might write life in the rearview for this one. it fits the prompt, and has something tangential to arranged marriage as well (more like fake arranged marriage, but yeah), and the stealth reincarnation trope fits the quote. my only concern is that it does have some albether in it for the plot to work, so I wonder if that's allowed for ship week fics.

day 6: time loop / worships and offerings / "say you'll remember me" — GOD these prompts were made for me, they speak to my soul. I'm still ideating on what to do here because these are my favorite prompts to work with; it's how I wrote time is a vinyl record after all. currently I'm toying with the idea of a modern pantheon AU where the religion/god system of teyvat is a lot more strict about the rule where gods get their power from belief of the people. the archons are widely believed in, hence they are the most powerful. everyone else are basically lesser gods under them. but what if there is a forgotten god, but they are still believed in and remembered by only one god and that's how they continue to exist? it's very tgcf-esque now that I think about it, so I'll probably say it's loosely tgcf-inspired.

day 7: free day. I have this idea that doesn't really fit the prompts for the other days, but I think it can be short enough to be done in a oneshot. so: exes to lovers. they meet again and get together at a wedding for a mutual friend. I want to play around with the ideas of how they would feasibly break up or not work well together if they didn't have the maturity to handle a relationship yet, and I think they would basically have a cycle of venti being an ultra-romantic and idealizing lumine and failing to see the imperfections that make her unique, bolstered by lumine's attitude of trying to solve everything on her own and not wanting to be vulnerable around others (a twist on the hero complex). but mostly, I want to play with the idea of them seeing each other in a new light after they've been apart and had time to mature. for example, venti seeing lumine in a more realistic lens and realizing all the new ways she changed, comparing the present to the past, etc.